Friday, February 24, 2017

"What's wrong with your pond?"

Two winters ago our pond began doing some very weird things. Like after a torrential rain, water would properly drain over the spillway, but then it would continue to drain through the regular drain pipe long after it was supposed. The pipe's top would be sticking up out of the water, but somehow water was still getting through. Then water would stop draining, and the water would rise past it's high water mark but not to the point of the spillway, and nothing would drain out. It's not uncommon for the drain pipe to get stopped up with either debris or a turtle, but it is uncommon for the water level to continuously drop. After the third time it happened, we realized the pipe was rusting out or had a hole under the water level. A call to a pond management company confirmed it. And so in the early part of this year we had to drain a small section of the pond so the drain pipe could be replaced. And since we've had almost no rain since the procedure, the pond has yet to totally fill back up. Hence all the neighbors wanting to know what is wrong with our pond.

Digging out the dam where the pipe is located.

The dogs enjoyed the extra running space from the lowered pond. The geese? Not so much.

The old drain pipe...the original from 1960 when Mr. Bryan built the pond. The workers sawed it down and capped it off.

The new drain pipe is located on the side of the dam, and has a cover. No more stuck turtles! :)

And the view from on top of the dam

On top of the dam, looking down to where the water drains back into the stream.